1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display apparatus for supplying pixel signals respectively to a plurality of electron emitters arranged in association with a plurality of pixels thereby to display an image, a method of driving such a display apparatus, an electron emitter, a method of driving an electron emitter, an apparatus for driving an electron emitter, an electron emission apparatus, and a method of driving an electron emission apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, electron emitters having a cathode electrode and an anode electrode have been finding use in various applications such as field emission displays (FEDs) and backlight units. In an FED, a plurality of electron emitters are arranged in a two-dimensional array, and a plurality of phosphors are positioned in association with the respective electron emitters with a predetermined gap left therebetween.
Conventional electron emitters are disclosed in the following documents 1 through 5. Various theories about the emission of electrons from a dielectric material making up an emitter have been presented in the following documents 6 through 8:
[Document 1]
Japanese laid-open patent publication-No. 1-311533
[Document 2]
Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 7-147131
[Document 3]
Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 2000-285801
[Document 4]
Japanese patent publication No. 46-20944
[Document 5]
Japanese patent publication No. 44-26125
[Document 6]
Yasuoka and Ishii, “Pulsed electron source using a ferroelectric cathode”, J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 68, No. 5, p. 546-550 (1999)
[Document 7]
V. F. Puchkarev, G. A. Mesyats, On the mechanism of emission from the ferroelectric ceramic cathode, J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 78, No. 9, 1 Nov., 1995, p. 5633-5637
[Document 8]
H. Riege, Electron emission ferroelectrics—a review, Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A340, p. 80-89 (1994)
If a display apparatus is constructed using pixels comprising electron emitters, then it is considered to array a number of pixels in a matrix drive them according to a passive matrix drive process or an active matrix drive process.
For enabling the pixels to emit light, it is necessary to apply a high voltage to the electron emitters. For this reason, for emitting light when the pixels are scanned, it is necessary to apply a high voltage during a period (e.g., one frame) for displaying one image, resulting in the problem of increased electric power consumption. A circuit for selecting each electron emitter and a circuit for supplying a pixel signal to the selected electron emitter need to be able to handle the high voltage.
The pixels on unselected rows often tend to be affected by a signal that is supplied to the pixels on a selected row, and this leads to an increase in the electric power consumption. Since each pixel is devoid of a memory effect (charge storage at electron emitters), the pixels are disadvantageous in attempts to achieve higher luminance and higher contrast.